Woman Built Home for About $3,000 in 1956. Now at 102, She Sold It and Had 3 Weeks to Clear Out 70 Years Worth of Memories

Woman Built Home for About $3,000 in 1956. Now at 102, She Sold It and Had 3 Weeks to Clear Out 70 Years Worth of Memories.

The centenarian said the home was the only house she has ever owned

Elaine Keesing and the house she sold in Perth, Australia.Credit : GoogleMaps; PerthNow

NEED TO KNOW

A 102-year-old woman has sold the only home she ever owned, 70 years after she and her late husband built it for about $3,000
Elaine Keesing said clearing out seven decades of family belongings was the hardest part, though she accepts that “there comes a time to move on”
The home sold within two weeks, and the agent said Keesing impressed her with her sharpness, confidence and determination to sign the contract herself

An elderly woman is saying goodbye to the only home she has ever owned — seven decades after she and her husband built it for about $3,000.

Elaine Keesing recently sold the three-bedroom home in Salter Point, a suburb of Perth, Australia, where she had lived since 1956, according to the Australian real estate website Domain.

Keesing, 102, and her late husband originally built the house for about $3,080, according to the centenarian.

While Keesing has not disclosed the selling price, Domain reported that the last home to have sold in the same neighborhood went for about $2.4 million.

The property attracted multiple interested buyers before going under contract just two weeks after hitting the market, per the site.

“The selling process itself was quite straightforward, and we completed it just before the recent downturn in prices,” she said while speaking to Domain.

“The most challenging part was having only three weeks to clear out 70 years’ worth of mementos, papers, family history and furniture,” she said.

“It was a bit of a nightmare for my family, but they managed it in the end,” she added.

Elaine Keesing’s home in Perth, Australia, built in 1956.google maps

While Keesing said the house “holds so many wonderful memories,” she also has accepted that life must move forward.

“I am a practical person, and I accept that there comes a time to move on,” she explained. “This next chapter will give me a little more support and will also give more freedom to the family who have cared for me so wonderfully over the years.”

“I will miss the large garden surrounding the house,” she added. “It has been a constant pleasure, changing with the years and with every season.”

Cristina Spinella of Ray White South Perth, who handled the sale, described working with Keesing as one of the most memorable sales of her career.

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“When I met Elaine, I couldn’t believe how sharp she was,” Spinella said while speaking to Domain. “She went into it with a level of confidence, saying she was going to become a multimillionaire. And she was determined to sign the contract herself.”

“When we concluded the sale, I asked her what her secret to life was and she said: ‘I drink brandy and dry every day at 5pm and every day I eat two eggs on toast,’ ” Spinella added.